In 2001, the whole length of British coastline from Exmouth to Studland was designated by Unesco as a natural World Heritage Site – natural heritage so precious that it must be conserved, protected and passed on to future generations intact. The coast is the only place in the world that records 185 million years of the earth's history in just 95 miles, telling the story of the Mesozoic era of the world, from 250 to 65 million years ago.

This designation led to an explosion of activity along the coast as local organisations got to grips with how this could impact positively on their work. In 2005, a new interpretation action plan acknowledged the role of the arts in engaging people with the site. This led to an ambitious cultural strategy, which in turn led to the development of a multi-faceted arts programme.

Unesco encourages World Heritage Sites to be managed through partnerships. Typically, these are formed of people from different sectors who have a stake in the site: scientists, educators, tourism organisations, transport and others. The Jurassic coast partnership showed considerable vision in 2005 by also involving the arts sector. I was taken on in 2008 to coordinate the development of this new model of site management through the arts programme.

This has seen 34 projects involving more than 5,000 participants and volunteers, and reached audiences of more than 165,000 directly. Hundreds of thousands more have visited sites such as Durlston Country Park where there is now permanent public art inspired by the Jurassic coast.

The programme was set up to provide additional support to arts organisations and to the partnership while we developed this new way of working. We therefore didn't commission or programme directly, but worked with arts partners to develop projects that fitted with their programmes and contributed in some way to managing the site.

Several people approached us early on wanting a project where they could sing about the coast during the London 2012 events in Weymouth. We developed this idea into a project called Coastal Voices, and drew people in from our networks.

In 2010, the Lighthouse in Poole offered to produce it since they were already developing a similar project. Four pieces of music inspired by the Jurassic coast were commissioned, and learned and performed by some 1,000 singers in four groups along the coast, including those who had requested the project. There were performances in Beer Quarry Caves, on the beach in Weymouth for the Opening Ceremony, at the Lighthouse, and in London.

Our programme has been widely acclaimed and has interested practitioners, policy makers, academics and even Unesco. We have also learned a lot of lessons – the theory is never quite the same as the practice.

It became clear early on that expectations from all sides were very high. Partnership work produces rich outcomes but is time consuming, especially at the beginning. It was ambitious to try out this model on such a scale for an event the size of London 2012. In hindsight, fewer projects with more detailed conversations around what they might contribute to the arts and Jurassic coast management, and better joint project planning would have benefitted all partners. Branding was also difficult, as the new model needed to be established before partners were willing to buy into its identity – this was further complicated by London 2012.

However, there is now increased understanding between the Jurassic coast partnership and the arts sector. This has led to better strategic planning across the sectors and, despite the difficulties that are presented by today's economic climate, a commitment to continuing to work together, embedding this approach into core activity.

The Jurassic coast partnership has a management plan that is revisited and published every five years; the next one covers 2015-19. Arts partners have been consulted around key areas of work in the planthat could be addressed by the culture sector. One project has already started, looking at public understanding of erosion and how this natural force is crucial in managing the Jurassic coast. The pilot will be rolled out by Bridport Arts Centre over the next year leading, we hope, to a larger project on the same theme in 2015/16.

It has been an amazingly stimulating five years for me. I am now developing my interests by undertaking doctoral research into the impact of Unesco designation on creativity in local communities. I'd like to thank everyone involved so far and am excited that Dorset and East Devon continue to provide global leadership in this area.